Violence sexuelle en période de guerre: une revue des études empiriques

Cet article passe en revue l’état des connaissances sur la violence sexuelle en période de conflit armé, ainsi que les différentes méthodologies utilisées. Il examine la littérature théorique et empirique, en utilisant une combinaison de méthodes qualitatives et quantitatives. Les résultats montrent que la violence sexuelleﾠ«structurelle » a ses racines dans diverses institutions sociales qui l’exacerbent en la transformant en violence «conjoncturelle » et qui font obstacle à la prévention et la protection des victimes. La violence sexuelle a des conséquences physiques, psychologiques et sociales graves et peut replonger les victimes dans un cycle de violence. Nos travaux suggèrent que la violence sexuelle devra être analysée en période de conflit aussi bien qu’en période de paix d’où elle tire ses origines. Les analyses devraient couvrir les perspectives des auteurs de violence aussi bien que des victimes, indépendamment de leur sexe

3UCubed: The IMAP Student Collaboration CubeSat Project

The 3UCubed project is a 3U CubeSat being jointly developed by the University of New Hampshire, Sonoma State University, and Howard University as a part of the NASA Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP)1 student collaboration. This project consists of a multidisciplinary team of undergraduate students from all three universities. The mission goal of the 3UCubed is to understand how Earth\u27s polar upper atmosphere (‘the thermosphere’ in Earth’s auroral regions) responds to particle precipitation and solar wind forcing and internal magnetospheric processes. 3UCubed includes two instruments with rocket heritage to achieve the science mission: an ultraviolet photomultiplier tube (UV-PMT) and electron retarding potential analyzer (ERPA). The spacecraft bus consists of the following subsystems–Attitude Determination and Control, Command and Data Handling, Power, Communication, Structural, and Thermal. Currently, the project is in the post-PDR stage, starting to build and test engineering models to develop a FlatSat prior to critical design review in 2023. The goal is to launch at least one 3U CubeSat a to collect science data close to the anticipated peak of Solar Cycle 25 around July 2025.2 Our mother mission–IMAP is also projected to launch in 2025, which will let us jointly analyze the science data of the main mission, providing the solar wind measurements and inputs to the magnetosphere with that of 3UCubed, providing the response of Earth’s cusp to these inputs

Variation in the organization and subunit composition of the mammalian pyruvate dehydrogenase complex E2/E3BP core assembly

The final version of this article is available at the link below.Crucial to glucose homoeostasis in humans, the hPDC (human pyruvate dehydrogenase complex) is a massive molecular machine comprising multiple copies of three distinct enzymes (E1–E3) and an accessory subunit, E3BP (E3-binding protein). Its icosahedral E2/E3BP 60-meric ‘core’ provides the central structural and mechanistic framework ensuring favourable E1 and E3 positioning and enzyme co-operativity. Current core models indicate either a 48E2+12E3BP or a 40E2+20E3BP subunit composition. In the present study, we demonstrate clear differences in subunit content and organization between the recombinant hPDC core (rhPDC; 40E2+20E3BP), generated under defined conditions where E3BP is produced in excess, and its native bovine (48E2+12E3BP) counterpart. The results of the present study provide a rational basis for resolving apparent differences between previous models, both obtained using rhE2/E3BP core assemblies where no account was taken of relative E2 and E3BP expression levels. Mathematical modelling predicts that an ‘average’ 48E2+12E3BP core arrangement allows maximum flexibility in assembly, while providing the appropriate balance of bound E1 and E3 enzymes for optimal catalytic efficiency and regulatory fine-tuning. We also show that the rhE2/E3BP and bovine E2/E3BP cores bind E3s with a 2:1 stoichiometry, and propose that mammalian PDC comprises a heterogeneous population of assemblies incorporating a network of E3 (and possibly E1) cross-bridges above the core surface.This work was partly supported by EPSRC (under grants GR/R99393/01 and EP/C015452/1)

Expected Performance of the ATLAS Experiment - Detector, Trigger and Physics

A detailed study is presented of the expected performance of the ATLAS detector. The reconstruction of tracks, leptons, photons, missing energy and jets is investigated, together with the performance of b-tagging and the trigger. The physics potential for a variety of interesting physics processes, within the Standard Model and beyond, is examined. The study comprises a series of notes based on simulations of the detector and physics processes, with particular emphasis given to the data expected from the first years of operation of the LHC at CERN

Performance of novel VUV-sensitive Silicon Photo-Multipliers for nEXO

Liquid xenon time projection chambers are promising detectors to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0$\nu \beta \beta$), due to their response uniformity, monolithic sensitive volume, scalability to large target masses, and suitability for extremely low background operations. The nEXO collaboration has designed a tonne-scale time projection chamber that aims to search for 0$\nu \beta \beta$ of \ce{^{136}Xe} with projected half-life sensitivity of $1.35\times 10^{28}$~yr. To reach this sensitivity, the design goal for nEXO is $\leq$1\% energy resolution at the decay $Q$-value ($2458.07\pm 0.31$~keV). Reaching this resolution requires the efficient collection of both the ionization and scintillation produced in the detector. The nEXO design employs Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs) to detect the vacuum ultra-violet, 175 nm scintillation light of liquid xenon. This paper reports on the characterization of the newest vacuum ultra-violet sensitive Fondazione Bruno Kessler VUVHD3 SiPMs specifically designed for nEXO, as well as new measurements on new test samples of previously characterised Hamamatsu VUV4 Multi Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs). Various SiPM and MPPC parameters, such as dark noise, gain, direct crosstalk, correlated avalanches and photon detection efficiency were measured as a function of the applied over voltage and wavelength at liquid xenon temperature (163~K). The results from this study are used to provide updated estimates of the achievable energy resolution at the decay $Q$-value for the nEXO design

Drons col·laboratius

La robòtica col·laborativa és senzillament robots dissenyats per dur a terme treballs de col·laboració amb els humans. Els robots col·laboratius o cobots són cada cop més utilitzats a les indústries. La robòtica col·laborativa és un dels àmbits d'actualitat en aquests moments. Però també és un dels més interessants en més d'un sentit. Com es comuniquen dos drons autònoms que col·laboren per fer una tasca? Com són aquests missatges que s'envien? Que poden fer que no podrien fer sols? Aquestes són algunes de les preguntes que ens volem respondre en aquest projecte. En aquest treball es presenta un disseny i implementació de dos drons terrestres que es comuniquen per col·laborar entre ells per resoldre una tasca.Collaborative robotics is simply robots designed to perform collaborative work with humans. Collaborative robots or cobots are increasingly used in industries. Collaborative robotics is one of the current topics now. But it is also one of the most interesting in more ways than one. How do two autonomous drones that collaborate to perform a task communicate? How are these messages sent? What can they do that they could not do alone? These are some of the questions we want to answer in this project. This work presents a design and implementation of two ground drones that communicate to collaborate with each other to solve a task.La robótica colaborativa es sencillamente robots diseñados para llevar a cabo trabajos de colaboración con los humanos. Los robots colaborativos o cobots son cada vez más utilizados en las industrias. La robótica colaborativa es uno de los ámbitos de actualidad. Pero también es uno de los más interesantes en más de un sentido. ¿Cómo se comunican drones autónomos que colaboran para hacer una tarea? ¿Cómo son estos mensajes que es envían? ¿Qué pueden hacer que no lo podrían hacer solos? Estas son algunas de las preguntas que queremos responder con este proyecto. En este trabajo se presenta un diseño e implementación de dos drones terrestres que se comunican para colaborar entre ellos para resolver una tarea

Morphology study of structure I methane hydrate formation on water droplets in the presence of kinetic inhibitors

Gas hydrates are non-stoichiometric crystalline compounds that occur when water molecules hydrogen bond to form cavities which can be stabilized by the presence of a guest molecule such as a gas or volatile liquid. Hydrates have been problematic in the oil and gas industry for several years as they may block pipelines and damage equipment. It is therefore of great interest to find environmentally safe inhibitors which can prevent hydrates from forming or from growing large enough to block pipelines.The purpose of my study was to observe the effect of kinetic inhibitors on the morphology of methane structure I hydrate using a high pressure crystallizer. Two kinetic inhibitors were studied, poly(VP/VC), a lactam ring copolymer, and antifreeze protein.Experiments were carried out on droplets with and without memory at pressures ranging from 5000 kPa to 10,000 kPa. There was no evident trend in induction times since nucleation is a stochastic process. Surface coverage time of each droplet was measured and found to be fastest on the water droplet followed by that of the poly(VP/VC) droplet and finally the AFP droplet, confirming that the two kinetic inhibitors studied were in fact effective at inhibiting hydrate growth. Since hydrate growth, unlike nucleation, can reliably be measured we can definitively conclude that AFP has a greater kinetic inhibiting effect on hydrate growth.During hydrate decomposition, it was observed in all experiments that the water droplet decomposed first followed by the poly(VP/VC) droplet and the AFP droplet. It is proposed that since the polymer chains and protein molecules bind to the hydrate crystals, this reduces the surface area of hydrate skin exposed, slowing the rate of decomposition

Environomic multi-objective optimization of an eco-industrial park

A circular economy refers to an industrial economy with a cradle to cradle vision, shifting from the use of fossil fuels towards renewable energy, minimizing the use of toxic chemicals and reducing waste by recycling through careful system design. The concept of a circular economy is based on the study of non-linear, in particular living systems, with a major outcome being the optimisation of systems rather than of the individual components which make up each system. Industrial symbiosis (IS) is the exchange of energy, waste and by-products among industries in order to add value, while reducing costs and environmental impacts. This is consistent with the principles of a circular economy, and is a stepping stone towards the design of sustainable economies and policies. In the scope of this study, the use of local and renewable resources and the development of industrial ecology can contribute to the decrease of environmental impacts of a living, interactive system, on a given territory. A process system design framework is developped to model a superstructure that contains the list of possible options for the system. The LCA is used to calculate the environmental impacts of a product or a service. The method requires certain adjustments in order to assess the impacts of a spatially delimited system. The design of such system can be done by combining Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that can provide a clear and structured framework to assess the environmental impacts of the system and process system design methods that applies mathematical programing techniques to systematically design territorial configurations using costs and thermo-chemical or physical models. The new method allows to generate the most attractive scenarios for the systems using a systematic modeling framework and using an optimisation approach that allows to generate a limited set of pareto optimal configurations that can then be evaluated to identify the most attractive solution. The method has been successsfully applied on a case study of a city with 100,000 inhabitants

The EPOS project : operationalizing cross-sectorial industrial symbiosis for the European industry

This presentation will introduce the European project EPOS (Enhanced energy and resource Efficiency and Performance in process industry Operations via onsite and cross-sectorial Symbiosis) and present its current status of work, with a focus on the work package Business scenarios and the applied methodology. The EPOS project brings together five process industries from five key sectors: steel, cement, chemicals, minerals and engineering. With the intention of reinforcing competitiveness of the EU industry, EPOS partners aim to increase cross-sectorial knowledge and investigate cluster opportunities using an innovative Industrial Symbiosis (IS) tool. EPOS' main objective is to provide a wide range of technological and organisational options for making business and operations more efficient, more cost-effective, more competitive and more sustainable across the different process sectors. An innovative tool is to be developed, applying a proven methodology for the thermo-economical optimization of energy and resource use within and between industrial clusters, taking into account sustainability opportunities. To achieve the objectives of the EPOS tool, a cross-sectorial energy, material and service integration approach is considered, based on process integration methodology. This holistic tool will enable an on-site optimized resource management, further targeting cross-sectorial opportunities. The expected users are process industries, suitable for both small and large scale. The tool will be usable by non-experts, after a reasonable training period, and will thus have a user-friendly interface such that the final user will not be directly in contact with the internal model, but will rather use a 'high-level' platform that reflects his knowledge and understanding of the sites. In addition to the ongoing tool development, a full work package led by Strane is dedicated to developing a generic business case for industrial symbiosis, taking into consideration monetized and non-monetized aspects. One main focus includes internalizing positive social and environmental externalities within the business models of industrial companies. A market study of the potential for industrial symbiosis in Europe was performed. It included the mapping of all industrial sites in the EPOS sectors, the generation of more than 1000 possible synergies, and a preliminary assessment of the economic and environmental relevance of a selection of 28 synergies. The study highlighted industrial hotspots, a consistent approach to identifying and assessing synergies. Each EPOS sector demonstrated a good potential for industrial symbiosis. Future work of the EPOS Project will focus on deepening the analysis of business models and their associated environmental impact assessment, using the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. The presentation will detail the methodology to link LCA and business models, which may serve as a reference model for future similar undertakings